topic Re: Changing color of preview text in the Text Component Editor in Civil 3D Forum

Changing color of preview text in the Text Component Editor

lunarfaze — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 15:52:41 GMT

When I "Edit Label Text" my preview window is black (same as my 2d background space and as I want it) but the text is dark blue and nearly impossible to see it. The label is company standard for legal plats so I cannot simply go to the "format" tab and change the color there as it changes the text color on the plat as well. I need to just change the preview color.

Any ideas? (Running Civil 3D 2021 and Windows 10)

Re: Changing color of preview text in the Text Component Editor

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 15:57:49 GMT

I don't know if there is any way to do this. I have different layers for different text objects, all different color so we can tell them apart. In the preview box they are all different colored again - but not the bylayer color. it seems to randomly pick a color to show in the preview box. a workaround would be to go to OPTIONS change the display color to 254 or something so you can see the text, edit the style (since theoretically you'll only do this once), then change the display back to whatever you want.

Re: Changing color of preview text in the Text Component Editor

lunarfaze — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 16:02:50 GMT

That's the only work around I have found thus far. But it's a pain in the butt and wastes time. Sometimes I "highlight" the text to better see it ... but still, it's horrible.

Re: Changing color of preview text in the Text Component Editor

user181 — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 18:26:06 GMT

I've had this issue when using a shx font. If using a ttf this problem doesn't happen. If you use the STYLE command and go the the text style you are using for the label and check the use big font option you can then see the text much better in the editor. The big font option doesn't seem to change the text style appearance in the drawing either.

Re: Changing color of preview text in the Text Component Editor

Jeew-m — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 23:13:07 GMT

Hi,

I hope this video would help you.

Re: Changing color of preview text in the Text Component Editor

ChrisRS — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 21:49:53 GMT

@lunarfaze, this is information from another post that you liked.
I am reposting it here because it may be of interest to followers of your post.

To be clear: This a Work Around. I do not know of any way to force the text to White. For me visibility is much better with a white background. Since all of my layouts use a white back ground, I launch the Label Style Composer (LSC) from a layout tab and find the white text window quite useable.

OPINON: From the Autodesk perspective, Labels are tools that you use within Civil 3D. You created your custom labels as part of your template creation initial investment in setting up Civl 3D. Thereafter, you should only need LSC occasionally. From the Autodesk point of view, LSC is a secondary tool. Since 'Hard to see' is not 'Broken', I do not anticipate Autodesk investing in LSC improvements.

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Link: Text Component Editor Contents Text Color (See Message 5)

The text component editor window gets it color from the background color of the current tab.

If you start the Label Editor from the model tab with a dark background the preview window is dark.

If you start the Label Editor from a layout tab with a light background the preview window is light.

Re: Changing color of preview text in the Text Component Editor

EDTROUT — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 13:07:06 GMT

Fixed the problem for me 100%. Thanks!

Re: Changing color of preview text in the Text Component Editor

mspeace — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 14:18:50 GMT

This was the best solution so far! Sadly my company doesn't really have a great template so I do a lot of label style editing and creation. I am slowly building my own repository so I can simply import all my styles into out template every time I start a new drawing. Not ideal.

Re: Changing color of preview text in the Text Component Editor

plantpower — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:45:56 GMT

I feel like people are missing the point that the issue lies in the contrast between the color of the text and the background color. The solution I found was that you have to go to the Label Style, go to the format tab, select all, and change the color. The next time you select a label and you want to edit the text, the color should stay the same.

Re: Changing color of preview text in the Text Component Editor

imomani — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 04:16:21 GMT

The text color is coming from the layer. If you change that then your labels won't follow the layer color anymore.

As (Chris RS) said: the background color follows the same color of the model or layout tab background.

For text clarity, make sure that:

The text style is set to a style that is more clear than (standard style).
The layer color that controls the labels is visible on the model and layout tab background.